CN113510455B

CN113510455B - Device for automatically discharging ball parts

Info

Publication number: CN113510455B
Application number: CN202110480773.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王康; 刘肖剑; 江伟; 宋育飞; 张选周; 梁茹; 李立; 刘广丰; 谢海涛
Original assignee: Xi'an Qintai Automobile Emission Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Xi'an Qintai Automobile Emission Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-30
Filing date: 2021-04-30
Publication date: 2022-06-24
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-30
Also published as: CN113510455A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a device for automatically discharging ball parts, which comprises: a container for receiving the ball parts, the container having an aperture in the bottom thereof, the aperture being sized such that the ball parts stacked within the container and having the same diameter are adapted to exit the container seriatim through the aperture under the influence of gravity; a blade disposed inside the vessel and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the blade being formed with a slot extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel and opening at a bottom edge of the blade, a longitudinal centerline of the slot passing through the center of the orifice, the slot being of a width such that the ball parts can enter the slot and line up in the slot, the distance between the bottom edge of the blade and the bottom of the vessel being less than the diameter of the ball parts.

Description

Device for automatically discharging ball parts

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of mechanical equipment assembly, in particular to a device for automatically discharging ball parts.

Background

During the assembly of mechanical equipment, it is often the case that ball parts need to be assembled.

One way that currently exists is to complete the ball fitting assembly by manual operation, in which a worker is required to manually remove a single ball fitting from a storage device and then place the single ball fitting in a position convenient for completing the assembly, and this process needs to be repeated.

In the above-mentioned method, the ball part needs to be held and fixed by hand by the operator, but the ball part is difficult to be held stably and firmly due to the shape of the ball part, so that the ball part falls from the hand of the operator and cannot be assembled normally, sweat on the hand of the operator may contaminate the ball part, and the efficiency of the method is low and the working strength of the operator is high.

There is also a device for automatically discharging ball parts, in which a bottom of a container for receiving the ball parts is formed with an orifice for automatically dropping the ball parts, and a conveying pipe is connected between the orifice and a position where the assembly of the ball parts is facilitated, so that the ball parts can be conveyed to the position where the assembly is facilitated via the conveying pipe. In this device, in order to prevent the ball parts from being stuck at the opening, the inside of the container is provided with a blade which is continuously rotated by the driver to constantly agitate the ball parts in the container, wherein the axis of rotation of the blade is offset from the opening at the bottom of the container so as to give sufficient agitation to the ball parts at the opening and thereby effectively prevent the occurrence of the sticking.

In the above-described device, the possibility of the ball member becoming stuck at the orifice is large without the vane rotating, and therefore rotation of the vane is required to eliminate the sticking. However, during the rotation of the blades and the agitation of the ball parts, friction and collision between the ball parts and each other and between the ball parts and the container may occur, thereby causing generation of dust and destruction of the assembly environment, and in the case where the ball parts are made of a soft material, deformation or damage of the ball parts may occur.

Disclosure of Invention

To solve the above technical problem, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for automatically discharging a ball component, which is capable of reducing the possibility of the ball component being jammed at an orifice, thereby reducing adverse effects due to rotation of a blade required for the occurrence of the jamming.

The technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts, including:

a receptacle for receiving said ball parts, the bottom of said receptacle having an aperture sized such that said ball parts stacked within said receptacle and having the same diameter are adapted to exit said receptacle seriatim through said aperture under the influence of gravity;

a vane disposed inside the vessel and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the vane being formed with a slot extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel and opening at a bottom edge of the vane, a longitudinal centerline of the slot passing through the center of the orifice, the slot being of a width such that the ball can enter the slot and line up in the slot, the distance between the bottom edge of the vane and the bottom of the vessel being less than the diameter of the ball.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts, in which as ball parts are continuously dropped through an orifice, the remaining ball parts still accumulated in a container move toward the orifice formed at the bottom of the container, during which time slots formed in a vane can guide the ball parts so that the remaining ball parts still accumulated in the container tend to be aligned in the slots in order, so that the ball parts located above the orifice are arranged in a regular manner and can be sequentially dropped through the orifice, thereby reducing the possibility of the ball parts being stuck at the orifice or the possibility of the orifice being blocked by the ball parts.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cross-sectional plane is parallel to the plane in which the blades of the apparatus lie;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus for automatically discharging a ball part according to an embodiment of the present invention taken along line A-A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, partially in section, of an apparatus for automatically ejecting ball parts according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the vanes and actuator of the apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the apparatus for automatically discharging ball parts shown in FIG. 8;

fig. 10 is an enlarged view of the components in the dashed area of fig. 8.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 in conjunction with fig. 2 and 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a device 1 for automatically discharging ball parts SW, which are only shown in fig. 2 for clarity of the drawings, the device 1 may include:

a container 10 for housing said ball elements SW, the bottom 10B of said container 10 having an aperture 10O, said aperture 10O being dimensioned such that said ball elements SW stacked within said container 10 and having the same diameter as shown in fig. 2 are adapted to exit said container 10 one by one via said aperture 10O under the action of gravity, in particular, in order to exit the ball elements SW one by one, the aperture 10O may be dimensioned slightly larger than the diameter of a single ball element SW and smaller than the sum of the diameters of two ball elements SW;

a blade 11 arranged inside said container 10 and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis L of said container 10, the blade 11 is formed with a slot 110, the slot 110 extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis L of the vessel 10 and opening at the bottom edge 11B of the blade 11, the longitudinal centre line CL of the slot 110 passes through the centre of the aperture 10O, the width W of the slot 110 being such that the ball piece SW can enter the slot 110 and line up in the slot 110, for example the width W of the slot 110 may be set slightly larger than the diameter of the ball piece SW, the distance D between the bottom edge 11B of the blade 11 and the bottom 10B of the container 10 is smaller than the diameter of the ball element SW, such that the ball element SW, after exiting the slot 110 under the force of gravity, will pass directly into the aperture 10O formed in the bottom 10B of the container 10.

As the ball pieces SW continue to fall through the aperture 10O, the remaining ball pieces SW still accumulated in the container 10 will move under the force of gravity collectively toward the aperture 10O formed at the bottom 10B of the container 10, which in prior ball piece ejection devices is random, and therefore the ball pieces SW above the aperture 10O of the container 10 will be arranged in an arbitrary or unordered manner, thereby resulting in a greater likelihood of the ball pieces SW becoming stuck at the aperture 10O or the aperture 10O becoming blocked by the ball pieces SW, but in the present invention, the movement will be guided by the slots 110 formed in the vanes 11 such that the ball pieces SW will tend to line up in the slots 110 during the movement, such that the ball pieces SW above the aperture 10O are arranged in a more regular or orderly manner, and can fall through the orifice 10O in sequence under the influence of gravity, thereby reducing the likelihood of the ball element SW becoming stuck at the orifice 10O or the likelihood of the orifice 10O becoming blocked by the ball element SW. After the ball piece SW located in the slot 110 enters the opening 10O and exits the container 10, the remaining ball piece SW automatically fills the slot 110 under the force of gravity.

Even in the case of the slot 110 formed in the blade 11, there is still a possibility that the ball SW gets stuck at the aperture 10O and cannot fall from the container 10, and therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 4 and 5, the device 1 may further include a driver 12, such as a motor, the driver 12 for driving the blade 11 to rotate about the longitudinal centerline CL of the slot 110, as schematically shown by an arrow in fig. 4 and 5, so that the blade 11 agitates the ball SW at the aperture 10O since the distance D between the bottom edge 11B of the blade 11 and the bottom 10B of the container 10 as shown in fig. 1 is smaller than the diameter of the ball SW, thereby eliminating the sticking, as is easily understood in connection with fig. 1 to 3. Moreover, by rotating the blades 11, in addition to the agitation of the ball parts SW at the apertures 10O to eliminate the jamming, the first portion of the ball parts SW radially away from the longitudinal centerline CL of the slot 110 can generate a pushing action on the first portion of the ball parts SW, which is further promoted to be neatly aligned in the slot 110, since the first portion of the ball parts SW radially away from the longitudinal centerline CL of the slot 110 is subjected to a greater agitation action, while the second portion of the ball parts SW radially close to the longitudinal centerline CL of the slot 110 or located in the slot 110 is subjected to a lesser agitation action.

Preferably, the driver 12 drives the blades 11 to rotate at a slow speed of 5 rpm, so that friction and collision between the ball parts SW and each other and between the ball parts SW and the container 10 are slight, thereby reducing the generation of dust and preventing the ball parts SW made of a softer material from being deformed or damaged.

The above-mentioned driver 12 can continuously drive the rotation of the blade 11 as in the conventional ball discharging device, however, it is easily understood that when the ball SW is not stuck at the opening 10O or the opening 10O is not blocked by the ball SW, the rotation of the blade 11 is not necessary, and the continuous driving of the rotation of the blade 11 by the driver 12 is not only wasteful of power cost, but also disadvantageous when the ball SW needs to be prevented from being continuously stirred due to the reason that the ball SW is easily deformed or damaged due to its soft material. In view of this, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 6, the apparatus 1 may further include a sensor 13 for detecting the escape of the ball element SW, and the sensor 13 sends a control signal CS for causing the driver 12 to drive the rotation of the agitating blade 11 to the driver 12 in response to the absence of detection of the escape of the ball element SW for a set period of time. The absence of the ball SW from exiting for the set period of time can indicate that the ball SW is stuck at the orifice 10O. It will be readily appreciated that the sensor 13 sends a control command to the actuator 12 to deactivate the actuator 12 or no command to the actuator 12 to put the actuator 12 in a standby state, corresponding to the constant detection of the absence of the ball element SW. In this way, agitation of the ball piece SW is reduced, reducing the risk of the ball piece SW being damaged by collision or friction, while ensuring that the discharge efficiency is not reduced.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 1, the bottom 10B of the container 10 may be tapered, and the orifice 10O is formed at the apex of the taper. In addition to enabling a certain number of ball parts SW accommodated in the container 10 to be discharged as much as possible, the conical bottom 10B enables further urging of the ball parts SW towards the slot 110 of the blade 11, thereby further urging the ball parts SW to line up in the slot 110, compared to, for example, a planar bottom. In particular, for example for ball elements SW in contact with the bottom 10B, under the action of gravity, the conical bottom 10B generates a reaction force on these ball elements SW, which has a component towards the slot 110 of the blade 11.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the aperture 10O is circular and the width W of the slot 110 is no greater than the diameter d of the aperture 10O, for example as shown in fig. 3, the width W of the slot 110 being equal to the diameter d of the aperture 10O, so that the ball piece SW can leave the slot 110 of the vane 11 and enter the aperture 10O formed by the bottom 10B of the vessel 10 in a smooth manner.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 7, the vessel 10 may include a receiving portion 101 and a cover portion 102 closing the receiving portion 101, and the cover portion 102 is formed with a feed opening 1021 for feeding the ball components SW into the receiving portion 101. The presence of the cover portion 102 can effectively prevent dust generated when the ball components SW move inside the container 10 or are agitated by the blades 11 from being scattered to the outside environment to cause pollution.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, still referring to fig. 7, the driver 12 may be located outside the container 10 and be arranged on the cover 102, for example by means of a driver mounting bracket 14, and the driver 12 drives the blades 11 in rotation via a drive shaft 15 passing through the cover 102, wherein the drive shaft 15 may be connected to an output of the driver 12, for example by means of a coupling 16.

When the blades 11 rotate, they are subjected to a large force by the ball element SW, which may cause the drive shaft 15 to bend and the blades 11 to deviate from the correct position. In view of this, on the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 7, with reference to fig. 8 and 9, the device 1 further comprises a bearing 17 for supporting the drive shaft 15, the bearing 17 being arranged adjacent to the top edge 11T of the blade 11. The presence of the bearing 17 and the position in which it is arranged make it possible to prevent the vane 11 from being displaced during rotation to the maximum extent, thus ensuring the positional accuracy of the rotation of the vane 11.

Regarding the way in which the bearings 17 are arranged, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, with reference to fig. 8 and 9, the device 1 further comprises a support 18 for supporting the bearings 17, the support 18 being fixedly arranged inside the container 10 and being formed with an opening 181, so that the ball element SW can pass through the support 18 to the bottom 10B of the container 10.

As for the way in which the holder 18 is arranged, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, see in particular fig. 10, the inner wall 101W of the housing 101 is provided with a step 101S for positioning the holder 18.

It should be noted that: the technical schemes described in the embodiments of the present invention can be combined arbitrarily without conflict.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for automatically ejecting ball parts, the apparatus comprising:

a container for receiving the ball parts, the container having an aperture in the bottom thereof, the aperture being sized such that the ball parts stacked within the container and having the same diameter are adapted to exit the container seriatim through the aperture under the influence of gravity;

a blade disposed inside the vessel and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the blade being formed with a slot extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vessel and opening at a bottom edge of the blade, a longitudinal centerline of the slot passing through the center of the orifice, the slot being of a width such that the ball parts can enter the slot and line up in the slot, the distance between the bottom edge of the blade and the bottom of the vessel being less than the diameter of the ball parts.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a driver for driving the blade in rotation about a longitudinal centerline of the slot such that the blade agitates the ball part at the orifice.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a sensor for detecting the absence of the ball element, the sensor sending a control signal to the actuator for causing the actuator to drive the rotation of the blade in response to the absence of the ball element being detected for a set period of time.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the bottom of the container is conical and the orifice is formed at the apex of the cone.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the aperture is circular and the width of the slot is no greater than the diameter of the aperture.

6. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that said container comprises a housing and a cover closing said housing, said cover being formed with a filling opening for the introduction of the ball element into said housing.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the driver is located outside the container and on the cover, and the driver drives the blades to rotate via a drive shaft through the cover.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a bearing for supporting the drive shaft, the bearing being disposed adjacent a top edge of the blade.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a bracket for supporting the bearing, the bracket being fixedly disposed within the vessel and formed with an opening such that the ball component can pass through the bracket to a bottom of the vessel.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the inner wall of the receptacle is provided with a step for positioning the holder.